


Plus Two

by celeste9



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Dancing, First Time, Getting Together, Insecurity, Multi, Remix, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: Bruce didn’t expect good things to happen to him. Considering the outcome of his super soldier serum experiment, he found it was generally best to keep his expectations low.Tony Stark, Bruce figured, wasn’t exactly a good thing. A person might even classify him as an asshole.





	Plus Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heyjupiter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Pepper's Year of Living Dangerously](https://archiveofourown.org/works/619537) by [heyjupiter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter). 



Bruce didn’t expect good things to happen to him. Considering the outcome of his super soldier serum experiment, he found it was generally best to keep his expectations low.

Tony Stark, Bruce figured, wasn’t exactly a good thing. A person might even classify him as an asshole.

But Tony Stark was also, well, Tony Stark. He had the type of brilliant mind that Bruce hadn’t had the opportunity to collaborate with since – well, since he ran. Since Betty. Their fields of focus weren’t the same but Tony understood him on a level that was refreshingly comfortable.

He hadn’t meant to stick around. It was only that Tony didn’t take no for an answer.

And, hey. Bruce couldn’t deny he enjoyed the sort of lab and resources that only Tony Stark’s wealth could provide. It wasn’t like Bruce had any other offers.

If he was confused by it, and why Tony would go to so much effort for him, well, that was another thing entirely.

“He’s courting you,” Natasha said, like it was obvious, perched on the edge of one of Bruce’s tables.

Bruce blinked at her, wondering for a moment if he had misheard. “But Pepper?”

Natasha shrugged.

“They’re not exclusive,” Clint chimed in.

The drawback to the lab, Bruce had soon realized, was the constant drop-ins.

“What,” Bruce said.

“Pepper knows she’s the only one who matters.” Clint seemed to be considering for a second. “I don’t actually know if she fucks around, too.”

“I’d advise not asking,” Natasha said, and Clint dipped his head in easy agreement.

“So…” Bruce said, fumbling with his equipment and setting it all down. “So, Tony built me a state-of the-art lab to get in my pants? Once?”

“He must really like your pants,” Clint suggested. “By which I mean, what’s in your pants.”

Natasha swiped the back of his head but failed to make her own suggestion.

Probably for the best. Bruce wasn’t sure he wanted to know it.

-

“Fundraiser tonight,” Tony said, sliding in across the kitchen table while Bruce had coffee. “Big fancy party.”

“Okay?”

“You can be my plus two.”

Bruce looked at Tony from over the rim of his mug. “What a tempting offer.”

“The booze is free. So’s the food. Private chef. Five star.”

“And you want me to what, mingle?”

“Nah, I just want you to look pretty on my arm. Maybe dance a couple times.”

“I’m a terrible dancer and parties aren’t really my scene.” Also, Pepper.

Tony’s plus two indeed.

Tony leaned back. “When’s the last time you were even at a party, Banner?”

Bruce hesitated.

“So how do you know you don’t like them?”

Bruce opened his mouth to protest but Tony blithely interrupted.

“Besides, you’ve never been to a party with me.”

“I’m not sure how you think that’s an incentive,” Pepper said, drawing nearer, her heels clicking on the tile. She smiled at Bruce. “But we would love you to come.”

“To be our plus two,” Tony said, glancing at Pepper.

Pepper’s smile didn’t abate. “Something like that.”

“I don’t even have a suit,” Bruce said, because somehow that was the only objection he could muster when faced with a combined front.

Pepper rested her hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Oh, that won’t be a problem.”

-

That was how Bruce Banner ended up in a rented tux that was nicer than anything he had ever worn in his life, Tony Stark’s “plus two” at a fundraiser so fancy that Bruce felt out of place simply breathing the air.

Tony had been right about the food, though. It wasn’t too terrible, finding a corner and settling there with a plate of hors d'oeuvres and a glass of champagne he could nurse. It wasn’t like any of these people knew who he was, so it was easy enough to remain quietly anonymous and unbothered.

Except for, well, Tony.

“Sad,” Tony said, leaving behind a crowd of admirers to talk to Bruce instead. “No wonder you think you don’t like parties.”

“I’m enjoying the free food and the free booze, just like you said.”

“Don’t take my advice so literally. Actually, you probably shouldn’t take my advice at all. Except for now, where I’m gonna advise you to put down the drink,” Tony said, grabbing the glass and draining it himself, “and have a dance with me.”

“You drank my champagne,” Bruce said, mildly perturbed. When Tony handed him back the empty glass, he did, in fact, set it down.

“There’s more. It’s free, remember?”

There really wasn’t anything to be done for it so Bruce let himself get dragged out onto the floor, swaying to the beat of the music. Well, sort of, he hoped; Bruce had never been terribly musically inclined. As long as he didn’t step on Tony’s toes, he figured he was fine. And actually, if he did, it would only be Tony’s own fault.

Bruce had warned him, after all.

“Stop looking like I’m murdering you,” Tony said.

“I don’t look like that.”

“Okay, then stop looking like I murdered your puppy. Parties. Dancing. It’s _fun._ ”

“Is it?”

“Now you’re just being a dick,” Tony said, and Bruce let himself smile.

“Maybe a little.”

If Bruce was being honest, it wasn’t _that_ bad. He could maybe see how going to a party with Tony could be sort of fun. He kept waiting for Tony to get distracted, though, to go off and be the center of attention, leaving Bruce in the corner again, but it didn’t happen. He was talking to Bruce about a new idea he’d had, spewing specifics about engineering in a tux in the middle of a banquet hall, and there was this weird warmth growing in Bruce’s chest.

That is, until Tony spotted Pepper and went to have a dance with her instead.

Right, Bruce reminded himself. He was the plus two.

Pepper was a much better dancer than Bruce was, with a clear sense of rhythm and an appealing swing in her hips. Her dress was a deep, dark blue and her hair was loose and curling down her back.

It was difficult to feel jealous of someone who had been nothing but lovely to you, and when you knew how utterly you had never had a chance to start with.

It was also difficult to say no to Pepper Potts when she was looking you in the eye, smiling, and asking for a dance.

“I’m not a good dancer,” Bruce warned her, one hand self-consciously on the small of her back, trying hard not to actually look down at his feet.

“I can lead,” Pepper said, taking him smoothly around the room while Bruce just kept trying not to step on her toes. “I’m glad you agreed to come.”

“Not sure I really had a choice.”

“Well, Tony can be pushy,” Pepper agreed. “But he really does just want you to have a good time. And so do I.”

“I might be moderately enjoying myself,” Bruce said, and felt that warmth suffuse him again when Pepper gave him a wide, happy smile.

-

Pepper knew how Bruce took his coffee and that he had an embarrassing weakness for chocolate croissants. When he stayed in the lab so long that he forgot to eat (which was often), she ordered him Chinese or sandwiches or Indian.

When Tony was away sometimes she stopped in to see if she couldn’t drag him into the sunlight, or at least into another room. They watched movies, or took walks, or sometimes sat next to each other and read or worked.

Mostly Bruce thought she was just being nice. Pepper was warm and caring and she was good at people.

But sometimes Bruce remembered Clint saying that Tony was courting him, and thought that this felt like Pepper doing the same.

It was only that Bruce knew he wasn’t that lucky.

-

Bruce could blame it on the wine, but that wouldn’t be true. He could blame it on Tony’s obvious attempt to create ambience, having JARVIS turn the lights down and play some music, the fancy spread on the kitchen table, but that wouldn’t be true, either. He could blame it on a lot of things, but honestly, he let Tony and Pepper tug him into their bed because he wanted to.

He had forgotten how it felt, to be close to someone. The slick slide of lips, the press of skin, the drag of fingertips. Warm breath on his jaw, the quick beat of someone else’s pulse beneath his hand, a soft sigh in his ear.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid. He was.

It was only that he wanted this enough to risk it.

-

It wasn’t quite light when Bruce woke up. The curtains were drawn but Bruce could see the gray morning light just beginning to seep in.

He had ended up pushed over to the edge of the bed, while Tony sprawled on his front over more than his fair share and Pepper snoozed quietly next to him, one arm draped over his waist. Tony’s fingers stretched faintly in Bruce’s direction and Bruce turned away so he wouldn’t see.

What the hell had he been thinking?

He had told Pepper once that his being here was bad for both of them, that he should have left a long time ago.

He wished he had taken his own advice.

Bruce carefully slid out of the bed so that he wouldn’t disturb anyone and walked quietly out of the room, through the Tower to his own bedroom.

It wasn’t right, Bruce thought. It wouldn’t work. It would end just like –

And Bruce couldn’t do that to them. Not after they had been so kind to him. They didn’t deserve it.

It was far past time he left.

Packing took longer than Bruce had anticipated. He didn’t know how he had accumulated so much… _stuff._ Clothes and books and scientific journals, a fancy pen and notepad from Pepper, some new tech from Tony that wasn’t on the market yet.

 _Just tell me if there are any… bugs,_ Tony had said. _You’re kinda my test subject._

He should have left New York when the battle was over.

The knock surprised him, small and polite.

“Yes?”

It was Pepper, of course it was, and behind her was Tony.

“I told Tony I would talk to you,” Pepper said, eyebrows slightly drawn as she glanced at Tony, "but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Like you’re surprised,” Tony said. “Bruce, I gotta say, I never pegged you for the love ‘em and leave ‘em type.”

“Sorry,” Bruce said.

“This is why I wanted you to stay behind,” Pepper said, smacking Tony on the wrist as she moved closer to Bruce. “No one should be apologizing here, but especially not you.”

Bruce only just stopped himself from muttering ‘sorry’ again.

“If an apology is owed,” Pepper continued, “it should be from us. For not making it clear to you what we wanted.”

“Think it was pretty clear, actually,” Bruce said, ashamed of the blush he could feel in his cheeks.

“Yeah, not that,” Tony said, interrupting Pepper and continuing to talk so she couldn’t. “Well, that, too, obviously, but also, we like you a lot. So, you should move in. Like, permanently.”

“Tony,” Pepper said, voice a sharp warning.

“If you want to, is what I meant, God, Pepper.” Tony leaned, pressing a lingering kiss to Bruce’s mouth before he could duck away. “We’re kinda hoping that you want to.”

Bruce stared at him, eyes flickering to Pepper, and then back to Tony.

There was so much he should say, about Betty, about the Other Guy, about _himself._ He wasn’t sure he even knew how to do this anymore, have a relationship, let alone when the relationship involved inserting himself into the middle of one that had existed just fine without him.

But Bruce thought maybe he finally believed that Tony wanted him for more than just a fling, that Pepper did, too, and he felt like maybe whatever he said wouldn’t matter anyway. This plus two thing, maybe it wasn’t exactly what he had thought it would be.

And maybe sometimes a good thing could happen when you weren’t looking for it.

Maybe even two good things.


End file.
